Audioboom Raises $6M, Q&A with COO Stuart Last

June 8, 2018 8:06 am

UK-based podcast hosting company, Audioboom, has been in the news lately after their proposed acquisition of Triton Digital fell through and it was reported they had minimal capital left to remain viable. Today, they announced an additional funding round including new and existing investors. This new influx of venture capital is exciting news both for the Audioboom and podcasters.

Discover Pods was fortunate enough to have an exclusive Q&A with Audioboom COO, Stuart Last about what their plans are moving forward and how they plan to address previous issues. See below for our Q&A.

Discover Pods: What are the details of the funding round? How much are you raising and where are you raising it from?

LAST: We are very pleased to confirm a raise of £4.5 million or $6 million dollars from a combination of current and new investors. It shows a real belief in our business model, and a confidence in how we will continue to grow the company globally.

DP: What are the immediate needs for the extra capital?

LAST: The money from the funding round will be used to grow our Original Content network. We launched Audioboom Originals last year and now produce 10 shows including Covert which came out last week and hit the top 10 on the Apple Podcasts chart. We will now fund that part of the business properly, growing our production teams, opening studios in Los Angeles later this year, developing a clear commissioning process that will allow the best in-house and third-party ideas to flourish. Bigger marketing budgets are also required now for impactful show launches – we will back up the creative process with promotional budgets that make hits.

The other area that we will invest strongly in will be the acquisition of existing, high-profile podcast talent for ad-sales representation. This has been a core part of our business since we launched in the US almost 4 year, but it’s become a very competitive space and we have to create high-value packages with signing fees, minimum guarantees, development budgets for spin-off content, and promotional budgets to attract top tier shows

DP: There were some reports about podcasters not getting paid on time. What are your plans to address those?

LAST: Yes, we fell behind with payments to our partners while our attempted acquisition of Triton was delayed. We put them in a tough position, whereby their own finances were impacted by our involvement in a bigger deal that ultimately did not close. That was a mistake, and we’re very sorry it happened – they have been extremely patient with us, and it’s time we started acting like a true partner again. I’m pleased to say that since we pulled out of the Triton deal we have made payments to over 100 of our partners, and have fully caught up more than 70 of them. Although we our announcing a large fundraise today it won’t be case of paying everyone, everything they are due tomorrow as the money comes in in stages. But we do expect to have every partner fully up to date with payments before the end of July.

DP: Where do you see the biggest potential areas for Audioboom?

LAST: We have an opportunity to make an impact as a creative content company. Our background is in technology and premium ad sales, but when I launched Audioboom in 2015 in the US it was alway with a view that we would become a program-maker. We’re a year in to Audioboom Originals, and I think we’ve made some great shows in Mafia, Night Call, Mission To Zyxx and Deliberations. Now we can build out a production team and development process that makes Audioboom Originals a key player in the podcast publishing space globally.

DP: What improvements are you making to Audioboom for it to continue as an attractive partner for podcasters?

LAST: I’m really pleased that we just launched a subscription package for enthusiast podcasters who do not want to run advertising. For $9.99 a month a podcaster gets professional-grade hosting, distribution, and analytics for their show – it’s the best value package on the market right now. We’re also developing a merchandising solution whereby all shows that we work with, big or small, can offer merch to their fans through their own storefronts, plus we continue to invest in our ad-network which is a programmatic solution for shows that may not be big enough to attract live read advertisers.

DP: Anything else you’d like to add?

LAST: We’re really excited about the future and getting back to doing what we do best

Thank you for your kind words and show of support over the past couple of weeks. It’s been a rough time for everyone that works at Audioboom and for all our partners – so we definitely appreciate your support and are excited about getting back to what we do best.